City Councillor Mary Roche has questioned the wisdom of merging Waterford’s local authorities, a move that now appears all but certain given Environment Minister Phil Hogan’s pro-amalgamation stance.
While she believes that local government requires “drastic change”, Cllr Roche isn’t “in favour of change for change’s sake”.
“Change that is part of a cut and paste ‘pin the tail on the donkey’ non-strategy or change that is merely moving the deck chairs, as it were,” she said.
“Change that doesn’t deliver improved decentralisation and decision-making closer to the people – and that, I fear, is what is proposed in the mooted Waterford City and County merger for which a commission is about to be set up by Phil Hogan (who of course, has our best interests at heart) and which is due to report as soon as October this year.”
